Girls’ schools do more than just teach the curriculum and offer a range of sporting and co-curricular opportunities – all schools do that.
What girls’ schools do is purposefully develop girls to understand and to shape their self-concept, self-efficacy, and self-confidence. In this way, students learn to develop the knowledge and skills required to reject and overcome the gender stereotypes that attempt to define them. Schooling is so much more than academic outcomes – certainly, these can open doors, but it is the other skills that young women develop, in relation to their confidence and belief in themselves, that keeps those doors open.
Societal gender imbalances that we see represented in different professions and life outcomes (such as equal pay and leadership acquisition) are more likely to be influenced from school age if social and cultural influences that exist outside of school are then replicated within it. Our job as educators of girls is to ensure that your daughter is equipped with the knowledge and skills to overcome these challenges and thus to actively erode these norms and achieve socially equitable life outcomes.
Through the purposeful education of girls in a single-sex environment, girls are more likely to:
To learn more, we encourage you to watch the video on this page.
Girls prefer single-sex PE Classes and sporting activities
Researchers have found that mixed-sex sporting activities at school reinforce existing gender stereotypes that boys are ‘better’ at sport, leading to girls being discouraged from taking part. In addition, especially during adolescence when girls are highly conscious of body image and weight, they are reluctant to wear physical education (PE) uniforms or take part in PE classes and sporting activities with boys. Unsurprisingly, multiple studies find that girls prefer female-only PE classes, sports, fitness activities and outdoor education.
To read the full article, click here.
Helping girls grow: A social, emotional, and academic development framework and program.
“At Loreto College we purposefully educate girls to help shape their self-concept, self-efficacy, and self-confidence so that they develop the knowledge and skills required to reject and overcome the gender stereotypes that attempt to define them. Societal gender imbalances that we see represented in different professions and life outcomes (such as equal pay and leadership acquisition) are more likely to be influenced from school age if social and cultural influences that exist outside of school are replicated within it. Our job as educators of girls is to ensure that girls are equipped with the knowledge and skills required to overcome these challenges, and thus to actively challenge these norms and achieve equitable life outcomes in comparison to boys. ” – Dr Nicole Archard.
Read the full article on the success of our award-winning wellbeing program in the latest Alliance of Girls Schools Australasia Journal here.
We encourage you to see how your daughter’s future can take shape at one of our upcoming College Tours where you will see our curriculum in action, tour our historic grounds, and hear from Dr Nicole Archard, our Principal and leader in girls’ education on why a girls’ school is the best investment for your daughter.
